{"id":186180,"date":"2017-06-27T23:47:30","date_gmt":"2017-06-27T23:47:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/5-reasons-to-get-an-hiv-test-today\/"},"modified":"2017-06-27T23:47:30","modified_gmt":"2017-06-27T23:47:30","slug":"5-reasons-to-get-an-hiv-test-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/5-reasons-to-get-an-hiv-test-today\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Reasons to Get an HIV Test Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 should be tested for HIV at least once in their lifetime, advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n

Despite the CDC\u2019s sweeping recommendation, however, only about 45 percent of adults in the U.S. have ever gotten an HIV test.<\/p>\n

HIV is most common among intravenous drug users<\/a>\u00a0and men who have sex with men, and the CDC recommends that people in these groups get tested most often (at least once a year). Yet it\u2019s not just these groups who are at risk. For example, in 2015, a quarter of the new HIV infections were found in heterosexuals. And African-Americans of both genders accounted for 45 percent of all new HIV diagnoses.<\/p>\n

\u201cHIV testing is very important for any sexually active person,\u201d says Alex Carballo-Di\u00e9guez, Ph.D., a professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University and a research scientist with the New York State Psychiatric Institute HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies.<\/p>\n

Regardless of your background, in honor of National HIV Testing Day, here are five reasons to consider getting screened.<\/p>\n

1. You May Be at Risk Without Realizing It<\/h2>\n

The CDC estimates that about 1.1 million people live with HIV in the U.S. But about one in every seven of them don\u2019t know they\u2019re infected. (You can be HIV positive for a decade or more before experiencing any symptoms.)<\/p>\n

Philip Chan, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine at Brown University and director of the Rhode Island STD Clinic, gives the example of a married couple in which one partner has been unfaithful. That would mean the other could have been exposed unknowingly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s uncomfortable talking to patients about these things,\u201d Chan says. That may be one reason the rate of screening is so low, he says, and why he and others would like to see it become a more routine part of care.<\/p>\n

2. Testing Is Convenient and Inexpensive<\/h2>\n

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), insurers must cover HIV screening without a co-payment. Ask whether your doctor can administer the test in his or her office. Otherwise, some community health centers, substance-abuse programs, and hospitals offer free testing. You can find a testing site in your area using this CDC tool<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind, Chan notes, that although the test itself should be covered without a co-pay, an office visit to get the test may require one or count toward your deductible<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many clinics use a rapid HIV test, which will give you a result in about 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

You can also test yourself at home<\/a>\u00a0using a kit you can buy at a retail pharmacy. The FDA-approved OraQuick HIV test usually costs about $40. It involves an oral swab and returns a result in around 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

Because most HIV tests check for antibodies the body produces to fight the virus, and these can take time to build up in your system, no HIV test is accurate right after you may have been exposed. For a blood test at the doctor\u2019s office, it may take three to 12 weeks for it to be accurate. For an at-home saliva test, you\u2019ll need to wait at least two to three months.<\/p>\n

3. You\u2019re Pregnant<\/h2>\n

The CDC recommends that every pregnant woman<\/a> be screened for HIV. That\u2019s because a woman can pass HIV to the developing fetus. But HIV medications can reduce that risk, Chan says.<\/p>\n

If a woman starts taking these drugs, which lower the concentration of the HIV virus in her body, \u201cthen the transmission rate to the baby becomes basically zero,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

4. You Have Early Symptoms of HIV<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019ve recently had unprotected sex with a new partner, it\u2019s a good idea to get tested for sexually transmitted disease<\/a>s. But you may want to be especially diligent about getting an HIV test if, two to four weeks after possible exposure, you develop flu-like symptoms<\/a>, such as fever, chills, a sore throat, muscle aches, or swollen lymph nodes.<\/p>\n

Some (though not all) people newly infected with HIV may experience these symptoms, which can last a few weeks.<\/p>\n

5. HIV Is Treatable\u2014and Survivable<\/h2>\n

Technically, HIV still has no cure. But improvements in the drugs available to treat the virus mean that HIV-positive people using them can expect to live many years. A 2017 study in The Lancet medical journal found that life expectancy among some HIV-positive people who start using antiretroviral therapy (ART), which involves taking a combination of drugs meant to reduce the amount of the virus in the body, is almost as long as the general population.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the key is to start treatment early,\u201d Carballo-Di\u00e9guez says. Delaying treatment means the virus will have more time to harm your immune system, putting you at risk for other infections<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you do receive a positive result, talk with your doctor about starting antiretroviral therapy. Because it\u2019s so effective at keeping HIV-positive people healthy, ART is recommended for every person who has the disease, at any stage. The therapy also reduces the likelihood that you\u2019ll transmit the virus to others.<\/p>\n

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More from Consumer Reports:
Top pick tires for 2016<\/a>
Best used cars for $25,000 and less<\/a>
7 best mattresses for couples<\/a><\/p>\n

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Copyright \u00a9 2006-2017 Consumer Reports, Inc.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 should be tested for HIV at least once in their lifetime, advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Despite the CDC\u2019s sweeping recommendation, however, only about 45 percent of adults in the U.S. have ever Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186180\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}